This invention relates to a device which can be operated from the instrument panel of a motor vehicle for achieving a so-called "cruise control".
Such devices are known as, for example, in Dutch patent 104601 wherein a lever system is connected with a disc which is mounted rotatably and slidably on a shaft so that it can be pressed frictionally against a disc which is fixedly mounted on the shaft. The two discs are normally urged apart under the action of a spring interposed between them and shifting of the shiftable or slidable disc is effected by a wedge bar which engages, on one side a first ball bearing which is fixed to the shaft and on its opposite side with a second ball bearing which is slidably mounted on the shaft and thus causes movement of the slidable disc. This device forms a fairly complicated construction and requires a considerably long stroke of the operating element or wedge bar in order to obtain sufficient operating force as will press the two discs together sufficiently firmly whereby no mutual rotation can occur even when the parts become dirty or greasy. A further constructional disadvantage resides in the fact that the lever system which is connected to the throttle of the vehicle engine lies in or adjacent the plane of the slidable disc and thus is displaced at one end thereof in a plane perpendicular to its plane when the slidable disc is likewise shifted.